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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





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JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON, LL.D. 

Late Chief Justice of the Supreme 

Court of Pennsylvania, 

and 

Some of His Family 




PROCEEDINGS OF 
THE HAMILTON LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 
OF CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA 
November 24, 1911 



ADDRESS 

ON PRESENTATION OF 

A BUST OF JUDGE GIBSON 

ON BEHALF OF HIS GRANDSON 

THOMAS P. ROBERTS, ESQ. 



BY 



JOHN HAYS, Esq. 



AND 

ACCEPTANCE FOR THE ASSOCIATION 



BY 



DR. CHARLES F. HIMES, Ph. D., LL. D., 
President of the Association 



^\!>'2 



,5 



am 






Mr. Hays: 

Mr. President and Members of The Hamilton Library 
Association, Ladies and Gentlemen: — 

Longfellow in his "Psalm of Life" beautifully says: 
"Lives of Great Men all remind us, 
We can make our lives sublime 
And departing leave behind us 
Foot prints in the sands of time." 

Those sands may be upon the shores of the Ocean of Eter- 
nity, upon the great plain beyond or about the foot hills of the 
Delectable Mountains, but the first tide of that Ocean, the first 
rain that falls upon that plain, the first wind that sweeps about 
those foot hills, following those foot-prints, will scarcely leave a 
trace of them. 

Names and glorious deeds of ancient heroes have been 
carved upon enduring rocks, but learned experts today dispute 
about both names and deeds. Modem scientists and learned 
explorers have discovered, embalmed and laid away in rock- 
hewn mausoleums or concealed in towering pyramids, dried-up 
mummies, once living, active, dominant human beings. Name, 
rank and time of living have been assigned to those people and 
denied. Only the mummies remain. 

"O Heavens!" says Hamlet, "die two months ago, and 
not forgotten yet! Then there's hope a great man's memory- 
may outlive his life half a year" (Hamlet, Act HI, Scene 2). 
The tide, the rain and the wind leave little of those "foot-prints 
in the sands of time." To this conclusion must come those 
who seek for traces of two generations of the Gibson Family, 
and yet two brothers of the name were educated gentlemen and 
soldiers of renown. 

Thus the Recorder's Ofitice of Cumberland County, Penn- 
sylvania discloses very few transactions by the Gibson Family. 

(3) 



There is not a single conveyance to or from the first Georgfe 
Gibson. But years agfo the papers of an estate in process of 
settlement contained a larg-e parchment deed to Georg-e Gibson, 
Tavernkeeper of Lancaster, Penna. It was for a body of land 
on the Conodogtiinet Creek. One of the adjoinees called for was 
Blaine's land on the east. It must have been not earlier than 
1770, for Blaine only acquired that land about 1769 or 1770, and 
built the Cave Mill in the year 1772. A diligent search has 
been made for that deed, but without result. The fact, there- 
fore, of such purchase about that time, by George Gibson, can 
not be established. The search, however, brought out three 
other conveyances — one to George Gibson and two from him 
and his wife for land in Cumberland County. The first was a 
Patent on parchment from ''Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, 
Esquires, true and absolute proprietaries and Governors in 
Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania and Counties of New- 
castle, Kent and Sussex on Delaware by Anthony Palmer, Esq., 
President of the Council of the Province of Pennsylvania afore- 
said, who in pursuance and by virtue of certain powers and 
authorities to him for that purpose {inter alia) granted by the 
said proprietaries has hereunto set his hand and caused the 
great seal of the said proprietaries to be hereto attached at 
Philadelphia this Nineteenth day of November, in the year of 
Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty-seven, the 
Twenty-first year of the Reign of King George II, over Great 
Britain, etc., and the Thirtieth year of the said proprietaries 
Government." This patent was issued by virtue of a warrant 
dated October 28th, 1746, to George Gibson, of the County of 
Lancaster. It was for "a Tract of Land situate on Conodo- 
guinet Creek in Pennsboro Township within the said County 
and described as follows: Beginning at a marked hickory by 
the side of the said creek and thence extending by Joseph 
Mitchell's land East two hundred and twenty-five perches to a 
marked elm by the said creek, thence up the same on the sev- 
eral courses thereof five hundred and eighty perches to the 
place of beginning, containing two hundred and thirty-two 

(4) 



acres, and the allowance of six acres per cent for roads and 
highways." The consideration was 35 pounds, 19 shilling's and 
and two pence, which would be a little more than fifty cents 
per acre. The tract was approximately in the form of the cap- 
ital letter "D". It will be noticed that the Patent issued before 
the formation of Cumberland County and before other townships 
were taken out of Pennsboro, and leaving it as it now stands 
East Pennsboro and West Pennsboro. The land is in the pres- 
ent township of North Middleton, and extends from Waggoner's 
Bridge by the Creek to the Cave Hill Farm. It has been di- 
vided into three farms, two of which are owned by me. The 
Patent for it was recorded in the Recorder's Office for the City 
and County of Philadelphia, in Patent Book A. Vol. 15, page 
508. 

On March 25th, 1748, George Gibson, of the County of Lan- 
caster, in the province of Pennsylvania, Irm/iolder, and Martha 
his wife in consideration of 150 pounds Pennsylvania currency, 
cenveyed the land to Richard Peters, Esq , of Philadelphia. 
This Deed was acknowledged before Thomas Cookson, Recorder, 
and recorded by him in Lancaster County in Book "B", p. 179. 
The third old deed is a short form of the second of the same date 
signed by George Gibson and his wife Martha, their signatures 
duly witnessed but unacknowledged and unrecorded. 

The signatures to these original papers indicate more than 
ordinarily strong characters. They would grace any important 
document and the charcters they disclose were transmitted to 
their descendants. They cannot be denied by any of the Gib- 
son Family. 

The two sons of this George Gibson were John and George, 
born respectively May 23rd, 1740, and October 10th, 1747. As 
the Patent to George Gibson is dated November 19th, 1747, 
and his son George was born October 10th, 1747, it follows that 
Martha was the mother of George Gibson, the younger, as she 
was living and signed the deed of March 25th, 1748, when 
George was less than six months old. If George Gibson, the 
elder, was married to Elizabeth DeVinez as stated in the foot 

(5) 



note on pag-e 12 of "Memoirs of John Bannister Gibson,, late 
Chief Justice of Pennsylvania," by his grandson, Mr. Thomas 
P. Roberts, she must have been a second wife and a step- 
grandmother and not the g-randmother remembered by Gen. 
George Gibson, a grandson of George Gibson and Martha his 
wife. 

Only one deed to George Gibson the second is found in the 
records of Cumberland County, and it is in Record Book H, 
Vol. 1, page 464. It is dated Nov. 12, 1787, and is for 50 
acres of land in Tyrone Township, now Perry County. It was 
from William West, then of the town of Baltimore, Maryland, 
and was executed in Carlisle in the presence of Edward West 
and Thomas Foster. It recites an order of survey No. 246, 
dated January 17th, 1767, in the name of the said William West, 
who declares that he took out the warrant for George Gibson, 
who had paid for it, and, therefore, at the request of the said 
George Gibson he conveyed the land to him. This deed is 
specially referred to for the reason that it shows George Gibson 
to have been acquainted with the West family when he was 
but a few months over 19 years old, and that he had the confi- 
dence of the family to such an extent that William West took 
out a warrant for land when George was a minor and could not 
take it out for himself. That acquaintance doubtless led up to 
his marriage with Miss West, a sister of William and Edward 
West. It is possible that he was here at a sister's home, as one 
of his two sisters married a Mr. Reed, of Middlesex. 

The records disclose one other grant to this George Gibson 
(Record Book H. Vol. 1, page 328). It is dated September 
5th, 1787, and is from the Supreme Executive Council of Penn- 
sylvania, and confers upon him the position of Lieutenant of 
Cumberland County —having charge of the Militia of the County 
— a position formerly held by Col. Ephraim Blaine, and con- 
ferred in each case because of acknowledged military ability. 
The Records disclose no more of the first two Georg-e Gibsons 
— father and son. Their feet trod the solid earth and left no 
"prints upon the sands of time." 

(6) 



The old tax lists are just as unresponsive as the records of 
conveyances. There were Gibsons in Pennsboro Township, in 
Carlisle, in Middleton Township and in and around Shippens- 
burg- at a very early date, and they are found among- the earli- 
est lists of taxables, but if they were of kin to Georgre Gibson, 
Innholder of Lancaster, the fact has never been disclosed. The 
name George Gibson does not appear in any of the early lists of 
taxables. The nearest approach to it is Georg-e Gilston who 
first appears in Middleton Township in 1772 as taxable for 
100 acres of land of which 30 acres were cleared, 2 horses, 
2 cows and 4 sheep. In 1773 the name is George Gilstone 
assessed for the same amount of land, 2 horses, 3 cows and 
6 sheep. In 1775 the name is again George Gilston, 100 
acres of land, 40 acres cleared, 2 horses, 4 cows and 2 sheep. 
With that year of 1775 the name drops out of the list. On 
the list for Carlisle in the following year - 1776 — appears 
Martha Gibson, Renter 1 Lot. In 1777 it changes to "Widow 
Gibson," the word renter is dropped, and the assessment is 
for one lot. In 1778 it is again "Widow Gibson" and she is as- 
sessed for one house and lot. Thereafter her name ceases to 
appear. Were George Gilston of Middletown Township and 
Martha, the widow Gibson, of Carlisle, the George Gibson, 
Innholder of Lancaster, and Martha, his wife ? Who can tell ? 
"The sands of time" have filled in the foot-prints and conject- 
ure only remains in regard to them. The fact remains, how- 
ever, that George Gibson, Innholder of Lancaster, a man of 
gigantic size, died and was buried in the old graveyard of Car- 
lisle where his enormous skeleton was uncovered and seen by 
living witnesses. One thing is sure. This George Gibson, 
Innholder of Lancaster, and Martha, his wife, gave to the world 
two great big sons, John Gibson and George Gibson— educated 
men and soldiers of renown serving their country in the war- 
ring times in which they lived. Like Scotch-Irishmen they did 
things— great things— and followed the Dutch maxim of "Sage 
nicht und sei still" —say nothing and be quiet. In this they were 
unlike our "down east" Puritan neighbors who when they ac- 

(7) 



complished anything great or small told the world of it as a 
hen cackles about her newly laid egg, and those Puritans have 
been cackling ever since they stumbled on to Plymouth Rock. 
Scotch-Irishmen did great things and did them as part of their 
allotted work, and had nothing to say about them. 

John Gibson, the older son, Indian friend, trader and in- 
terpreter, soldier in the Forbes expedition in 1758, Indian pris- 
oner in 1763 and 1764, surrendered to Boquet, Colonel in the 
Continental Army throughout the Revolutionary War, Major 
General of Militia, Member of the Constitutional Convention of 
Pennsylvania of 1790, Secretary and Acting Governor of the 
Territory of Indiana, Associate Judge, crowned his career with 
his translation of Indian Chief Logan's speech delivered by him 
to Governor Dunmore of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson declared 
it unsurpassed by any oration in ancient or modern times. It 
has gone into history, is known wherever the English language 
is understood and stands upon the plane of Mr. Lincoln's ad- 
dress at Gettysburg. He died April 16th, 1822 full of years 
and of honors. He would have been a great man anywhere and 
his father and his mother must have been great people. 

George Gibson, the younger, was somewhat more than 
seven years younger than his brother John. His foot-prints 
first appear in this county in 1767, as the friend and acquaint- 
ance of the West family. Possibly he may have been with his 
brother as an Indian trader and in his brother's service may 
have been, as it is said, in what is now Silver Spring Township, 
in 1770. His brother John may have met Blaine during the 
Forbes expedition in 1758, and after Boquet's Expedition in 
1763. Blaine becatne an officer in the Royal American Regi- 
ment in the Forbes expedition when a boy between 16 and 17 
years old. He remained on the frontier until after the Boquet 
expedition had reached Fort Duquesne. He resigned from the 
Regiment and the Army late in 1763, or early in 1764. He was 
married in August, 1765, to Rebecca Galbraith and largely en- 
gaged in the milling business in what is now Silver Spring Town- 
ship . At one time he was assessed for three mills in that township. 
He disappeared from the list of taxables there and appeared in 

(8) 



Middleton where he built the Cave "Mill in 1772. George Gib- 
son may have been looking^ after supplies at those mills for his 
brother John's trade with the Indians about 1770, but the tax 
lists do not show him a taxable either for property or as a free- 
man. That "foot-print" is very doubtful. From this time on 
his "foot-prints" with few exceptions are clear and distinct. In 
1772 he married Ann West, a sister of the William West who in 
1767 had taken out a land warrant in trust for his future brother- 
in-law, who was then a minor. She was a daughter of Francis 
West and was born 1744 near Sligo in Ireland. Francis West, 
according to the history of Cumberland County was President 
Judge of the Courts here from 1757 to 1791. He owned some 
300 or 400 acres of land with a small grist mill on a small stream 
which empties into Sherman's Creek in the present county of 
Perry. The settlements in Sherman's Valley were among the 
earliest in this section of the country. Through it and through 
Path Valley, so named because of the Path, passed the new Al- 
legheny Path to its junction with the old Path beyond the 
Mountains leading westward to the Allegheny River. The new 
Path left the great road at Middlesex ran northward and crossed 
the mountain at Sterrett's Gap into Sherman's Valley. An old 
warrant of March 17th, 1737, calls for that Allegheny Road as 
an adjoiner and the village north of Middlesex is to this day 
called Allegheny. Along that Path went the traders with sup- 
plies for the Indians on the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers and 
they passed by the home where George Gibson and Ann, his 
wife, afterwards lived. There in the little house nestling down 
between the hills and the mountains of Perry County on the 
bank of Sherman's Creek near the path that led the traders to 
the Western Indians, the five children of George Gibson and 
Ann, his wife, were born. One, a daughter, died in infancy. A 
son, supercargo of a ship, lived to be about 30 years old. The 
other three were Francis West Gibson, George Gibson and John 
Bannister Gibson, youngest of the three, who was born Novem- 
ber 8th, 1780, The "foot-prints" are free from doubt. We 
are on the right trail. The Battle of Lexington had been 

(9) 



fougfht and its shots were heard around the world, and the world 
has not forgfotten them yet. The ears of tyrants still ring with 
them. They flush cheeks and fire the eyes of all lovers of lib- 
erty. Georg-e Gibson heard those shots away out near old Fort 
Duquesne, rebaptized Pittsburg-h. At once he gfathered a band 
of 100 inen, roug'h, uncontrolled characters of the frontier, who 
feared nothing, aud their Captain was just as fearless as his 
men, thougfh an educated, cultured gentleman. With his Com- 
pany, because Pittsburgh was then under the jurisdiction of 
Virginia, he reported at the head of "Gibson's Lambs" as they 
were derisively called at Williamsburg', Virginia, to Gen. Hugh 
Mercer, then organizing Virginia troops to support the men of 
Lexington and Bunker Hill. Hugh Mercer was the young As- 
sistant vSurgeon who fled from the stricken field of Culloden 
in 1745, and came safely into the Cumberland Valley into Ship- 
pensburg, then the oldest town in the valley, where the Courts 
were held. He was the leading' Captain under Armstrong in the 
cai:)ture of the Indian town of Kittanning, a Colonel of a Penn- 
sylvania Reg'iment in the Forbes expedition ag'ainst Fort Du- 
quesne, the founder of Mercersburg', the friend of Washington, 
and by him induced to go to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where 
Mary, the mother of Washington lived, and Gibson found him 
at Williamsburg, organizing Virginia troops in the oncom- 
ing war for freedom. Later on, a Brigadier General in the 
Continental Army, he died the death of a soldier from wounds 
received at the Battle of Princeton. A son wrote and witnessed 
the will of Mary Washington. Today in a beautiful park in the 
City of Fredericksburg, Virginia, stands a lofty and stately 
shaft to General Hugh Mercer, the brave soldier of Prince 
Charles of Scotland, a hero of Pennsylvania, and the gallant 
leader of the soldiers of Virginia in the war for freedom. 
Nearby stands the beautiful monument erected by the women 
of America to the memory of Mary, the mother of George 
Washington. To this soldier of thirty years' experience. Cap- 
tain George Gibson reported with his "Lambs." The "lambs" 
got hungry. They disdained the forage given them and they 

(10) 



started out to browse in richer pastures. General Mercer called 
out his troops and surrounded them. Like a wise General he 
did not punish them, but talked to them kindly, like "a dutch 
uncle." They became lamb-like in demeanor but lion-like in 
battle, and their Captain was admired and respected. The 
authorities applied to him as the one best acquainted with the 
Spanish lang-uage and best qualified for the purpose to negotiate 
with the Spanish of New Orleans for a supply of powder and 
lead for the Virginia troops and, incidentally, for the Patriot 
Army. He went to New Orleans and was so successful in his 
mission, and supplies of powder and lead came forward so sat- 
isfactorily, that Captain Gibson was made Colonel of the 1st 
Regiment of Virginia. He led that regiment, acting as one of 
the Continental Line, through the battles of the Revolution, un- 
til it was nearly annihilated. The war drew to a close Corn- 
wallis surrendered, and by the order of Washington, Colonel 
George Gibson, in command of the troops detailed for the pur- 
pose, marched the British prisoners from Yorktown, in Virginia, 
to the town of York, in Pennsylvania, where he held them until 
they were sent to England. A few years at home, with a closer 
acquaintance with his sturdy boys, and then came his appoint- 
ment as County Lieutenant in 1787, and the calls to all parts of 
the great territory then covered by Cumberland County. A 
very few years passed when an Army was formed to suppress 
the Indians in Ohio. Gibson was appointed Lieutenant Colonel 
and Active Commander of one of the Regiments. General 
Arthur St. Clair was placed in command of the forces and was 
especially cautioned by Washington to be always on the alert 
and above all things to avoid being ambushed or taken by sur- 
prise by the Indians. Then came the fatal 4th of November, 
1791, when that happened which Washington feared and had 
specially cautioned St. Clair against — the army was taken by 
surprise and horribly routed and defeated on the Wabash, 90 
miles north of Cincinnati. Colonel Gibson was mortally 
wounded, was carried from the field for 30 miles toward Cin- 
cinnati, died from his wounds and was buried there. When 

(11) 



the dispatch of the massacre reached Washing-ton he fell into 
one of the few ung^overnable rag'es of his life, as he did at Gen- 
eral Lee at the battle of Monmouth, New Jersey, and swore 
worse than "our army in Flanders." But it could not bring 
back the gallant Gibson nor the heroic Butler from the Cumber- 
land Valley. It could not restore the husband to the wife nor 
the father to the boys — the widow and the orphans at their 
home on the Westover Mill property on the bank of Sherman's 
Creek. Bravely she addressed herself to the education and 
training of her boys, giving them the fullest liberty in all manly 
sports. Straightened in means, she built, possibly with the 
help of her boys, a little school room near the home, where she 
taught and trained them as no school and college could have 
taught and trained them. But she did not live to see the full 
fruition of her labors. Her boys were established in life but had 
not the distinction later on acquired, as she died in February, 
1809. 

Francis West Gibson, the oldest, preferred a quiet country 
life. He was of strong personality, determined and pos- 
itive, with an eye bright with the fires of intelligence. He 
was a most interesting talker and on several occasions I greatly 
enjoyed his descriptions of people and their doings. It is said 
of him that he was once convicted, as told by the late Judge 
Graham, of a minor assault, and sentenced to pay a fine, be 
confined in the county jail for ten days, pay the costs and be in 
the custody of the Sheriff until the sentence was complied with. 
The wSheriff had reached the door of the court room with his 
prisoner when Gibson turned and said in a loud voice, "See 
here Judge! can't you postpone this thing for a short time? I'm 
in the midst of harvest and it's damned inconvenient for me to 
go to jail just now." The Judge took it in good part and said 
he was sorry for him but he could not help him. It was char- 
acteristic of the man. 

George Gibson was the second of these three boys and was 
born at the Westover Mill property in 1774. At the age of 20 years 
he entered the importing house of Alexander M' Donald in Bal- 

(12) 



tirnore and became Supercargo o£ a vessel "in the East India 
Trade. On May 3rd, 1808 — the day Winfield Scott became 
Captain of Artillery— he entered the Army as Captain in the 
5th Infantry, became Major of the 7th Infantry, Lieutenant 
Colonel of the Sth Infantry, and served throughout the war of 
1812, until the reduction of the army in 1815. In 1816 he be- 
came Colonel and Quartermaster General and was assigned to 
the Southern Army under Gen. Andrew Jackson, then fighting- 
Indians. In 1818 he became Commissary General of Subsist- 
ence, was brevetted Brigadier General in 1826, and in 1848 was 
brevetted Major General for meritorious services in the war with 
Mexico, He died in Washington, September 30th, 1861, after 
a military service of 53 years. General Jackson was his warm 
admirer and personal friend, and relied greatly upon his judg- 
ment and advice. He was universally popular in the army and 
in Washington, during his long residence there. 

John Bannister Gibson, the third son of Col. George Gibson 
and Ann Gibson, his wife, was born at the Westover Mill home- 
stead on November 8th, 1780. A country life as one of four 
sturdy brothers, hunting, trapping, fishing, working on the 
farm, in the garden, and in the little mill, going to school to a 
beloved mother, who trained them for their life work, was an 
ideal boyhood, which gave rich results in after years. Under 
his mother's training John Bannister Gibson was prepared for and 
■entered Dickinson College in the class of 1798. He must have 
entered college a year or two prior to 1798 for he became a mem- 
ber of the Union Philosophical Society in 1797, In the class of 
1798 were John Byers Alexander, nearly 18 months younger 
than Gibson, who was graduated and became a leading lawyer 
in western Pennsylvania, residing in Greensburg, and George 
Metzger, born November 19th, 1782, and therefore two years 
younger than Gibson. Neither Metzger nor Gibson was gradu- 
ated. It has been said that Gibson was rather young for col- 
lege. The learned President of this Association, Dr. Himes, 
graduated at the age of 17 years. The late Gen. R. M. Hen- 
derson had graduated and been admitted to practice law when 

(13) 



he was but little more than 20 years old. Early graduation is 
perhaps more desirable than at a more mature a.ge. It settles 
one into his life work in the freshness and vigror of early man- 
hood. Gibson read law with Hon. Thomas Duncan and was 
admitted to practice in 1803. He opened an office in Carlisle, 
then in Beaver, in Hagerstown, Maryland, and returned to Car- 
lisle in 1805. Metzger read law first in Lancaster, then in Car- 
lisle in the office of David Watts, Esq., and was admitted to 
practice in March, 1805, the year in which Gibson returned to 
Carlisle. In the office of David Watts, Esq., with Metzger, were 
John Byers Alexander, Andrew Carothers, and William or John 
Wilkins, all of whom became distinguished lawyers. Gibson 
was not successful as a practitioner. In 1810 he became a mem- 
ber of the Legislature, and on October 8th, 1812, was married 
in Carlisle to Sarah W. Galbraith, and in 1813 he was appointed 
President Judge of the 11th Judicial District of Pennsylvania; 
in 1816 he was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme 
Court of Pennsylvania, on the death of Judge Brackenridge of 
Carlisle; in 1827, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Penn- 
sylvania, and in the following" year headed the Presidential 
Electoral Ticket in Pennsylvania in the interest of Gen. Andrew 
Jackson, who carried the State by an enormous majority. In 
1838 the Constitution of Pennsylvania was chang'ed. It affected 
the tenure of office of the Supreme Court Judg'es. An appoint- 
ment of a Chief Justice, it was supposed, would remove the dif- 
ficulty. Chief Justice Gibson, a Democrat, resigned and was at 
once appointed Chief Justice by the Whig Governor Ritner. The 
L^^niversity of Pennsylvania that year conferred upon him the 
degree of LL. D., and a little later on Harvard University, at 
Cambridge, Mass., also conferred the same degree upon him. 
Then came the change in the Constitution of Pennsylvania which 
made the Judges elective, and gave them rank according' to 
priority of commission. The Chief Justice of the Court is the 
Judge whose commission first expires. The position can never 
again be held by one man for 24 years. Chief Justices of the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania now become such in rotation or 
by survival and no longer owes the office to preeminent ability, 

(14) 



learning-, and integrity. The Democratic Convention met in 
Harrisburg in June, 1851. Five candidates were to be nomi- 
nated for Judges of the Supreme Court. Judge Gibson was 
then almost 71 years old, and he was the only one of "the Judges 
then upon the bench of the Supreme Court to be nominated un- 
der the amendment to the Constitution, and it was the lawyers, 
not the politicians in the Covention, that secured his nomina- 
tion, and it was given to him because of his great integrity, 
grand character, and unsurpassed ability. Gen. Simon Camer- 
on urged upon him the necessity of doing something for his 
own election, but he said that "he would give no sign that he 
accorded with partisan methods in filling- the office," and he 
did not publicly express any desire to be elected. He stood 
upon his record as a Judge. Yet in a quiet way he asked some 
friends in the Whig party to do what they could for him. One 
of these friends was my father, then a Whig leader in Lower 
Frankford township, and who at one time was the business 
partner of Judge Gibson's son-in-law, Charles McClure, Esq., 
under the firm name of Hays & McClure, Iron-masters. George 
Gibson, a son of the Judge, came out to see my father, and said 
that his father sent to ask if he could not do something for him 
among the Whigs of Frankford Township. My father went into 
the house and came out with a note of introduction to James B. 
Leckey, Esq. of near Bloserville, a Whig leader in Upper Frank- 
ford, and requested him to do what he could forjudge Gibson's 
election in his neighborhood. Among the papers of Squire 
Leckey's estate years afterwards that note was found with a note 
from George Gibson to the Squire. A few years ago that note 
was sent to Mrs. George Gibson, whose husband was a son of 
the Judge, and who died as Colonel of the 5th Infantry, once 
commanded by his uncle. Gen. George Gibson. 

Judge Gibson was elected in October, 1851, and took his 
new seat on the bench of the SuiDreme Court as an Associate 
Justice in January, 1852, having drawn a term of moderate 
length. On May 3rd, 1853, he died in Philadelphia, and was 
buried in Carlisle in the old graveyard on May 5th, 1853. For 

(15) 



40 years he had been a Judge in Pennsylvania with a salary and 
per diem expenses of probably under an average of $2, 000. 00 per 
year, and at the time of his death his estate, including- what 
came to him through his wife, amounted to about $30,000.00. 
His classmate, Metzger, retired from practice after 25 years 
with a competency of over $40,000.00, the saving's from which 
during nearly 50 years more of life, made a very handsome 
estate. 

Such is the bare outline of the life of Chief Justice John 
Bannister Gibson. What of the Man and of the Judgre? It is 
difficult to answer briefly and intelligently. It is safe to say 
that no other man ever sat upon the bench in Pennsylvania that 
measured up to the standard of manhood as Judge Gibson did. 
He towered above them all. To everything he turned his at- 
tention he devoted the great ]X)wers of his mind and he excelled. 
His constant aim was to be true to himself and to do the best he 
could, and his best was superexcellent. In music, in painting,, 
in poetry, in medicine, in dentistry, in geology, in all mechani- 
cal work, experts came to him for advice and instruction, for he 
excelled in all. His composition in Latin or in English could 
not be surpassed, as shown by the epitaphs he wrote for monu- 
ments to prominent men. His versatility was amazing. He 
was a dozen experts embodied in one great frame and controlled 
by a mind superior to them all combined. With all this amaz- 
ing ability he was a gentle-hearted, innocent-minded, lovable 
man in his family and to the world. Those who knew him, loved 
him, and he appreciated in a gentle way the love that was given 
to him. He was opposed to dissension and wrang'ling of any 
kind, in any place. The late Wm. H. Miller, Esq., of Carlisle, 
said that in opening his first case in the Supreme Court he 
stated that it had created among the lawyers and judge in the 
lower court a great deal of ill feeling. Chief Justice Gibson in- 
terrupted him curtly by saying, "Young man, we'll have noth- 
ing of that kind in this Court. Proceed with your argument." 
His recreations were the theatre, musical concerts, playing on 
his violin, mechanical work, and social meetings and games. 

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Mr. Metzgfer was for years accustomed to invite a number of 
g-entlemen to his house to gfames of quoits, etc., in his side >ard. 
Judgfe Gibson, when in town, was always one of the party. 
After the games were over some shgfht refreshment would be serv- 
ed alfresco by Mrs. Blaine, or by her daughter. The quoits they 
used on those occasions are in my possession. Think of a stately 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania pitching- 
quoits like a boy! The players were practically in the country, 
laid aside their dignity with their coats and went into the game 
con amove. 

Some 70 volumes of Law Reports show his work upon the 
bench. He sat as a Judge in the Supreme Court on over 6,000 
cases and delivered opinions in over 1,200 of them. Think of 
the enormous labor involved in clothing in pure English, in 
words of the exact shade of meaning to clearly convey the de- 
sired idea, the exhaustive reference to legal authorities, and the 
evolution of new principles of law founded upon the highest 
reasoning and upon other settled principles, and you will gain 
some slight conception of the vast work Judge Gibson accom- 
plished. It is said that in writing his opinions his great book 
of reference was one of synonyms. He sought the simplest, 
clearest Anglo-Saxon terms that could be found to express the 
heart of the idea he wished to convey. His opinions are models, 
the principles he applied to facts are of the purest and most 
correct, and are recognized in all courts, at home and abroad, 
where the English language is known. The concensus of opin- 
ion is that he was the ablest Judge that ever sat upon the bench 
in Pennsylvania, and that he had no superior anywhere. His 
purity of heart, his integrity of purpose were only equaled by 
his ability. 

That such a man ever lived in Carlisle is an honor to the 
town. Her citizens may well be proud of the fact that within 
the space of a little over six hundred feet on the same side of 
the same street lived four such Judges of the Supreme Court of 
Pennsylvania as Chief Justice Gibson and Justices H. H. Brack- 
enridge, Thomas Duncan and John Kennedy. 

(17) 



No male descendant bears the family name of the old Inn- 
holder of Lancaster. Four generations have come and g-one 
and all have done the noble work of noble-minded, strong-- arm- 
ed men. No Gibson "foot-print" of a lineal descendant from 
the old Innholder of Lancaster will ag^ain appear upon "the 
sands of time", but the duty rests upon you, Mr. President, 
and the Association over which you preside here in Carlisle, to 
do honor to and preserve for all future g^enerations the memorj^ 
of the orreatest one of these four g^enerations — "John Bannister 
Gibson, the last of the Chief Justices under the Constitution of 
1791," as he describes himself in his will. 

vSometime in the prime of his l^fe a plaster mould was taken 
of the head and bust of Judgfe Gibson —it is unknown by whom 
or when. It must have been ssme years prior to 1845, for a cast 
from it surmounted the law library of the late Samuel Alexander 
who died July 30th, 1845. When the room ceased to be used for 
an office, about 1851 or 1852, the bust was stowed away in the 
garret of the house. A slig^ht stain was on the face and a corn- 
er of the base of the bust was broken. In that condition it 
came to me and for years it has rested over my law library. 
Mr. Thomas P. Roberts, the author of that most interesting' 
volume "Memoirs of John Bannister Gibson, late Chief Justice 
of Pennsylvania," the worthy grandson of the Judge, has com- 
missioned me to present in his name to The Hamilton Library 
Association a bust of his distinguished ancestor Chief Justice 
Gibson. In discharging this duty I beg to impress upon you, 
Mr. President, and upon the members of the Association, the 
honor conferred upon you, and the charge that you keep safely 
this lifeless facsimile of the grand head and noble features of 
the greatest and noblest Judge that ever graced and dignified 
the Courts of Pennsylvania, so that generations of the future may 
see and study the manner of man that great Judg'e was. In the 
name of Mr. Roberts, I now present to you the cast of the head 
and bust of John Bannister Gibson, LL.D., late Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and for 40 years an emi- 
nent and upright Judge. 

(18) 



SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE 

BY 

Dr. Charles F. Himes. 

It becomes my pleasant duty to receive on behalf of the 
Hamilton Library Association, the officially recognized histor- 
ical society of Cumberland County, the bust of the great Chief 
Justice of Pennsylvania, John Bannister Gibson, presented by 
you on behalf of his grandson, Thomas P. Roberts, Esq., of 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I beg to express the cordial thanks 
of the Association, and its great appreciation of this gift, highly 
valued on account of its historical associations. At the same 
time I extend to you the thanks of the Association for the ex- 
ceedingly interesting, and historically valuable address with 
which you have accompanied the presentation. 

In receiving the gift I feel that it may not be out of place 
to add a few words in regard to the place it may hold in the col- 
lection of the Association, suggested by the character of the 
man represented. 

Dominated by Anglo-Saxon, or perhaps even more by 
Scotch- Irish instincts, we are prone to esteem almost to the 
point of worship, superb fighting qualities in the individual, 
and are inclined to place those exhibiting them on the highest 
pedestals, and to erect to them the most overtowering monu- 
ments, in recognition of what may be regarded as deeds of per- 
sonal valor. Without derogating in any degree from the claims 
of such to the highest patriotic regard, may it not be allowable 
to suggest that we may forget that there are great public ser- 
vices outside of, beyond, at times, perhaps, even far above these, 
at least equally worthy of recognition. 

The occasion that brings us together this evening has sug- 
gested this line of thought. It is no military hero that we 
crown to-night, only a plain simple citizen, without any trap- 

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pingrs, but with a higfhly endowed intellect not utilized in the 
channels of trade or industrial profit, but devoted unreservedly, 
unselfishly, with remuneration small compared with the services 
rendered, to the hig"hest interests of his fellow citizens. His 
was a life that emphasizes the trite saying that, "peace has its 
triumphs as well as war." It is law that makes a community 
out of incoherent, hostile, savage clans; that as a rule of con- 
duct for the individual tends to regulate and harmonize the dis- 
cordant notes of society. It is not only the highest expression 
of human intellectual activity, but it is as well the most endur- 
ing in its life and influence. The legions of Rome carried her 
conquests to the most remote parts of the then known world; 
their remains are everywhere; their camps and the ruins of 
their works tell of their occvipation all over Europe. All are 
lifeless. But Rome still lives in her system of jurisprudence, 
her greatest contribution to our day, in some of the most high- 
ly civilized nations of our time, not enforced by its military 
power, but taken up, after that power had been long broken, by 
tribes emerging into civilization, because adapted to their social 
needs. The Code Napoleon survives in other communities 
where his rule was overthrown, and after his remodled map of 
Europe has become a curio of history. English law, witli order 
in its wake, is Britain's highest justification of conquests that 
seem to originate in purest selfishness. 

This law, silent in war, reasserts itself after the horrid sur- 
gery of war is over, and by its benign influence helps to restore 
the blessings of peace. The features that have been unveiled 
to you tonight in the work of art presented to your historical 
society are those of one universally recognized as preeminently 
learned in the law, a great lawyer, but above all a great honest, 
upright judge, great in the interpretation of law, whose sole 
aim was the ascertainment of truth, — a truly great man, who 
not only left his impress upon his time, but projected his in- 
fluence far down into the future, for many of the opinions of 
Chief Justice Gibson are not simply classics, but are recognized 
landmarks by those of today busied with the application of the 

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law; appealed to not only in the courts of our Commonwealth, 
or those of the system of commonwealths of which we form a 
part, but wherever Engflish law follows the drum beat of Brit- 
ain's army. 

This man we are proud to claim in high degree as a prod- 
uct of our beautiful valley; bom on its confines and passing 
there his boyhood; receiving his intellectual training here, in 
our own college; entering upon his legal career here, and ever 
turning in his subsequent honored career to old Carlisle with 
affectionate regard; and here his remains rest in our old grave- 
yard with those of many others of the honored dead of our 
county. But such men never die but live on in the legacy of 
thought they have given to the world. What their pens have 
traced is more enduring than the records made by the sword. 

In behalf then, not only of the Hamilton Library Associa- 
tion, but of all the citizens of our county I accept this bust of 
the great judge, assuring you that it will have a place of honor 
worthy of the man, knowing that though its lips are mute it 
will have a silent eloquence all its own, inspiring and encourag- 
ing all who may look upon it to emulate his many civic virtues. 



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DEC 16 1911 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESJ 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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